The Weird Case of Derrick Rose

First of all – kudos for Stephen Curry for breaking his own record for most three-pointers made in a season! AND he still has 3 more games to improve it further. He currently has 276, and I reckon he might try to reach 300. It’s not unthinkable – he just had a game with 8 treys, and 300 is such a nice round number. I think he just might make it. Anyway, you’re the man, Steph!

But the more important issue I wanted to tak about is the curious case of Derrick Rose. Now, I used to really like this player and I think it’s really sad, the way his career turns out to be plagued by injuries. But what I wanted to single out now is how weird his resume will look when he retires. He was Rookie of the Year and made the Rookie 1st team in 2008-09, then he was the MVP in 2010-11, and made the All-NBA first team in that same season. And… well, that’s it, in fact! No other All-NBA selections, not even for a third team, not All-Defensive team selection, and of course no another MVP. And with the way his career has been going since then, it is highly unlikely that he will ever add something else to his resume, apart from (perhaps) all-star appearances.

Do you see how weird this is? Here’s a player that in one season was one of the top 5 players in the league, and actually won the MVP. You might expect him to earn some other recognition. What, if he was a top-5 guy in one season, can’t he be a top-10 or a top-15 guy in several others? He won the MVP award for fuck’s sake! Well, no. And that’s why it’s so weird. He had one peak season (which I admit was pretty damn awesome) and that’s it.

It might have been even weirder, if we didn’t have a precedence. But in fact, Rose’s career is not the weirdest of all-time in terms of recognitions earned. One player managed to top that – Wes Unseld.

The great and weird Unseld set the bar really high back in 1968-69, and I doubt anyone will ever top that. He not only became the MVP and made first team All-NBA in one season and then dissapeared from the awards scene for evar, but he also made it in his rookie year. Can you fucking believe it?! In one season he won the Rookie Of The Year award, the MVP award, made the All-Rookie first team and the All-NBA first team. Surely this is a player who is destined for greatness, right? In fact, one player did what Wes did a decade before him, and then continued to have one of the most illustious and distinguished careers evar – Wilt Chamberlain. But Unseld? Nah, collecting more awards is too mainstream. It’s way more interesting to make people rub their eyes in amazement when they look at your resume.

In fact, Unseld decided to raise the “WTF” factor of his career, by winning the NBA Finals MVP in 1977-78. So here’s a player who in his rookie season won every possible award (there was no Defensive Player of the Year award back then, nor an All-Defensive team), was considered as a rookie to be a top-5 player in the league, but was never a top-15 player ever again. AND a decade later he comes up and wins the NBA Finals MVP just to remind everyone that he’s still here and that he can be awesome when he wants to. Top that, Derrick Rose!

This is the weridest resume in history. I think the only was anyone can top that is if someone wins the Rookie of the Year award, wins the title in his 1st season, gets the NBA Finals MVP, but then dissapears for 15 years before having a season for the ages at age 35, wins the MVP, makes the All-NBA first team, and then retires. THAT would be awesome. When that happens we can close the NBA because nothing will ever be as awesome as that.